


Man of Steel, Heart of Lead

by shockfactor



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Cait left, Evil Brotherhood Floyd, F/M, Floyd Killed Danse, Hancock is dead, I broke my own heart, MacCready left, Sad, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 03:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6548467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shockfactor/pseuds/shockfactor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Floyd, once again, is forced to set emotion aside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My RWBY Hiatus itch has been sated-ish, but a Fallout itch has come to take its place. Also, Curie approves of the Brotherhood... and I think that has consequences for the poor girl.  
> Background:  
> Danse and Floyd became bros.  
> Floyd is tasked to kill Danse.  
> Floyd tries to convince Danse to live.  
> Floyd fails.  
> Floyd kills Danse.  
> And stuff happens... leading up to now.

_"I have never been more proud of you than I am at this moment."_

'Would you say that now, Danse?'

Floyd looked over the Castle- well, what was left of it. He and a team of Knights had been sent to destroy the Minutemen, who Maxson began to pay attention to after a man wearing their uniform killed a Paladin. Retaliation was swift, and brutal. The Synth, Sturges, lay dead, riddled with holes from minigun fire. Ronnie's head lay a few feet from her torso, by virtue of a run in with Floyd's Assaultron Blade, Recompense. Preston took far more, killing three of the six Knights accompanying Floyd- poor Malloy didn't even have a chance to scream- before eventually being felled. It had taken 73 laser bolts. Now, the Knights were concluding a sweep of the Castle, taking what they could.

"You think it'd be a good idea to mount artillery on the Prydwen?" Knight Tanis asked, looking at a howitzer.

"It'd be a smaller bore than this, but it may well be a good idea," Knight Captain Pearce answered, before turning his head. "Knight Ringgold!"

Said Knight looks up from his newly-acquired Laser Musket. "Sorry, sir... these things are weird. Why would you make a laser that had to be cranked up? Semi automatic fire would have been far more efficient."

"Not our place to lecture the enemy, Ringgold. Paladin, are we done here?" 

Floyd looked back at them. "Go ahead to the Vertibird, I'll hoof it back to a secondary rendezvous point."

"Are you sure about that, Paladin?"

"Positive. Go ahead. Inform Maxson of the operation's success." Floyd removed his helmet, and lowered the bandana over his face, taking a deep breath. He had eschewed Power Armor- 'too clunky, not cost-efficient', he said. The real reason was that Maxson saw fit to give him Danse's armor.

He couldn't bring himself to enter it. It smelled like him. Not like Floyd. It wasn't fair to Danse to take his things. So he left the armor.

"Affirmative. Ad Victoriam, Brother."

"Ad Victoriam, Captain."

With that, the three remaining Knights made their lumbering exit.

* * *

 

Floyd didn't admit it to anyone, but he felt guilt about his friends. Killing Garvey today was one of the hardest things he had done in a very long time. The way his eyes widened at the sight of his old 'General', but then narrowed with determination, as he raised his musket to defy what he saw as the end of freedom in the Commonwealth.

Preston Garvey died like the hero he always said he wasn't.  

There was one person that he regretted turning his back on the most. And she was long gone, blown away by the wind, it seemed. One second she was by his side, the next taking her gear and leaving.

_Curie pulled away from Floyd to catch her breath. What a wonderful concept, that someone you loved could literally take your breath away. Strange, but wonderful. But, there was still a thought nagging at her._

_"Monsieur-"_

_"When are you gonna stop calling me that, Curie?"_

_"Floyd, I... I love you. But I'm scared of what is happening to you. It is like the person I knew is slowly slipping away from me. I hate it..."_

_"Curie, look at me."_

_She looked at him, her artificial eyes meeting those iridescent green ones. The color of a fresh apple, in her mind._

_"This is all for the best. Please, trust me on this."_

_She looks away for a brief moment, crestfallen. "Danse trusted you, as well, did he not?"_

_He looks stunned by her question. He leans forward to kiss her again, but she pushes him away._

_"Did he not?"_

_"...He did."_

Perhaps that was not the right answer. Nothing would have been the right answer. He was wrong, but was too scared to think of it. Sometimes when he closed his eyes at night, he'd see Hancock and Danse and Piper, accusing him, asking what they had done to deserve death. Now Preston would be joining them.

Footsteps coming down the hall. A survivor. Acting on pure instinct, Floyd drew his revolver- an emergency weapon by any other name- and fired. A gasp, and a loud thud signaled he had hit his mark. He turned to face the source of the sound. 

Curie lay down, clutching an angry wound in her upper abdomen.

"Oh God... Oh God, Curie..." Floyd panicked, running over to the Synth -she's more than a Synth to him, dammit!- and looks down at her.

Her new body was always frail. The wound is definitely fatal. Her eyes slowly meet his, and they are filled with pain, grief, and some emotion he can't place.

What had he done?

He clutched those small, dainty hands- so soft despite all the work she did with them- staring into those eyes - they stayed so bright and innocent, even when the world went to hell in a handbasket...

And for the first time in his new life in the Commonwealth, he says he's sorry. 

He says it again.

And again.

And again and again and again and again and again until he runs out of breath to apologize with.

In the time it takes for him to take a breath, he realizes he can't hear hers. He simply sits there for a while, not speaking.

She's only a Synth, she's only a Synth, she's only a Oh God what have I done what have I done WHAT HAVE I DONE!?

He thought he didn't have much of a heart, after losing his home to the bombs, and losing Kate. He thought he had even less when he met Father, who revealed exactly who he was. He had even less when he murdered the man, and left the Synth Shaun to die.

Today, as a result of his own actions, he loses what little heart he has left. 

And he knows exactly what he's gonna do about it.

 


	2. Robbie's Reckoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert Joseph MacCready and Cait Flynn kill a wandering Paladin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to make up a last name for Cait.

_"I never was that big on Danse, Floyd, but he was our friend!"_

_"MacCready, I did what what I was ordered to do."_

_"Like a little tin soldier!"_

_"You're one to talk about soldiers, considering you lied about being one."_

_MacCready clenched his fists, teeth gritted, rage nearing the boiling point._

_"And then you have the balls to go kill Hancock!"_

_"Hancock was threatening me, and Initiate Ringgold."_

_"Fuck Initiate Ringgold! Let the son of a bitch rot in hell with all the rest of your tin cans!"_

_Floyd, Cait, and Curie all flinched at MacCready's sudden, uncharacteristic outburst of profanity._

_"And you know what, Floyd? Fuck you too! Yeah, that's right, fuck you!" He shoved him back, throwing his signature cap to the ground._

_"I promised someone I would never talk like that again. But you know what? I think he'd understand if he knew I were dealing with a piece of shit like Floyd Wheeler!"_

_He promptly turned on his heel, and walked away, rage eminating from every pore._

Deep down, Robert Joseph MacCready regretted that his friendship with Floyd Davis Wheeler ended that way. There was nothing he could have done. Floyd had cast his die the moment he put a bullet in Danse. He cast another when he used MacCready's past against him. 

Duncan had asked where Uncle Floyd was. MacCready said that Uncle Floyd didn't feel well, and wouldn't be visiting for a while.

Surprisingly, Cait had followed MacCready- "Not 'cause I like ya, or nothin', you little stack of shite."- and offered to help him on any jobs he got. After about three or four jobs filled with bullets, tension, and a few thousand caps, he found out that her sentiments were exactly the opposite of her initial statement. He had an awkward time explaining to Duncan why Auntie Kay-he never could say the T right- and Daddy were hugging in the bed.

They weren't married or anything- he still had to get over his deep-set grief, and Cait insisted there was no need or reason to put a ring on her- but they had something. It reminded him of Floyd and-

"Daddy, there's a Steel outside! There's a Steel outside, Daddy!"

Oh, shit.

"Robbie, do you think-" Cait began

"Stay here with Duncan. He doesn't need to see this."

MacCready got up from his seat, ignoring Cait's protests, and grabbed Ol' Painless from its stand. His coat whipped behind him as he threw open the door. Duncan wanted to follow him, but Cait held the excitable child back. She was a little miffed that she couldn't do anything, but was resigned- Duncan didn't need to see what happened next.

MacCready stopped a few yards away from the Paladin, who stopped in turn. The merc cocked his rifle, looking out of the side of his eye at the Paladin.

"I assume we're not here for pleasantries?" he asked, resisting the urge to crack a grin.

"Don't miss."

What an odd thing to say at a time like this.

"You quit the Brotherhood of Compensating, tin man?"

"Don't miss."

Okay, that was getting annoying. He definitely wont miss if this asshole keeps this up. One warning, like always.

"Alright, motherfucker, either you hit the road, or-"

"Don't miss, Rob."

How did he know his name? How did he know his FIRST name? He lifts his piece to his shoulder, looking through the scope, straight into the dark eye ports of the armor.

"Who the fuck are you!? How do you know my name!?"

The armored man takes one step.

A single shot from Ol' Painless drills through the center mass of the suit, and the Paladin falls straight back. There's a loud thud when he hits the ground, and MacCready flinches at the sound. He slowly approaches the armored individual, chambering a new round, and kneels next to him, slowly taking off the helmet.

Floyd. It's Floyd. And he's laughing.

"Never could find the heart, Rob. You gotta aim for the head," his former friend admonished him, before resuming his quiet laugh.

MacCready presses the barrel of his gun to the Paladin's head. "Can't miss this. You always had a big head."

A small hmph from the Paladin.

"Prove it."

And so he did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Ol' Painless.   
> DEAL WITH IT.


End file.
